Residents in a street where people from Coventry’s University Hospital congregate for cigarette breaks are fuming after calls for a ban appear to have been stubbed out.

Staff, visitors and even patients in pyjamas still attached to drips regularly go off-site and light up in Hall Lane in Walsgrave, sparking fed-up residents to launch a petition to make their road smoke-free.

But despite 322 backers the measure looks unlikely after a report to Coventry City Council's cabinet member for policing and equalities recommended against it.

A young mum-of-two told the Telegraph she was having to explain to her children why people were smoking in their street.

She said: “Even though we’re not smoking that is actually affecting us, the air is polluted.

“I don’t know why the council is not taking any actions.”

A man who lives in the road said: “We’re surprised the council is not making this a smoke-free street.”

He said as many as 20 smokers regularly take to the street to light up and thinks the hospital should set up its own smoking zone.

After a smoking ban at the hospital, smokers have started congregating on Hall Lane, leaving some residents unhappy.

Another female resident said: “You get patients in their pyjamas carting drips.”

The report, being presented on Thursday, said the council had consulted with West Midlands Police and the hospital - who brought in a site-wide smoking ban in January after complaints about smokers gathering at the main entrance.

Until the smoke-free grounds policy came into force, staff, visitors and patients could smoke in designated areas around the hospital site.

The city council said it could introduce a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) but it would also apply to residents and their visitors. Breaking the PSPO would mean a fixed penalty notice.

Neighbourhood enforcement officers were said to be already routinely patrolling the area looking for illegally discarded cigarette ends.

But the report concluded the issue would be best resolved by the hospital working with the residents.